“I’m not doing this out of pettiness.”

Darius softened his expression and grabbed my sleeve.

“The sword, shield, and boots don’t really matter. What’s meaningful is that I receive them as a gift from you, and I don’t like you giving them away to Lucian.”

“Goodness, what are you saying?”

Lucian was his knight commander.

“I don’t want to be left with the memory of receiving the same thing as others when it’s the first gift you’re giving me in a while.”

Darius wore a displeased expression.

“Anette, are you interested in Lucian?”

“How could I be?”

“Still, if you give it to him, Lucian might get the wrong idea. You’ve been extremely kind to Lucian these past few days.”

Well, when someone’s sister is hovering between life and death, one wants to offer comfort. After Rose’s illness ended, Lucian was nothing more or less than someone indebted to me.

“These all belong to you.”

“No, they belong to the North. They’re treasures left by your ancestor for times of crisis in the North and the world.”

“If it weren’t for you, they would have remained asleep until the end of the world. So it’s not wrong to say they’re yours.”

If it weren’t for me, the female lead would have found them as in the original story. Though sweet Rose would have died.

“It’s not my place to dictate how you use your possessions, but I’d prefer if you didn’t give them to Lucian. Not just Lucian, but other men too. You are my wife, after all.”

As I recall, the harsh North had an overwhelmingly larger male population.

It turns out this was a secret Santa romance novel. Only caring for one designated person.

“But wouldn’t it be nice for Sir Lucian to have something good too?”

“I’ll buy Lucian new weapons and armor myself.”

Darius looks at me with eyes that seem to say, ‘So can’t you not give this away?’ Hmm.

“Then will you really get something separately for Sir Lucian?”

“Yes.”

Darius beamed, holding an armful of the sword, shield, and boots he had taken away, refusing to give them to Sir Lucian.

‘He’s being so greedy, why isn’t the anti-greed magic working?’

Is it discriminating between protagonists and extras after all?

“Your Grace, the opening of your ancestor Inkhart’s treasure chamber isn’t entirely a blessing.”

I spoke to Darius while examining the other treasures. A pair of small hand mirrors caught my eye. They seemed to be for women.

“I know. We’ve suddenly acquired an enormous amount of gold coins that can only be used as collateral or for display for now. Just protecting them from those who covet them won’t be easy.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

Darius hadn’t noticed yet. I had a duty to warn him.

“People are blinded by the golden legend of Duke Inkhart. But think carefully about that legend. Why did your ancestor prepare these treasures in the ash forest? Don’t you really remember the conditions for opening this treasure chamber, Your Grace?”

The reason I confidently jumped into a legend others called nonsense.

“You mean…”

“The descendant of Inkhart will slay the Demon King. Your ancestor knew this and prepared these treasures. Treasures that must not fall into the hands of evil people.”

No matter how much they say nothing in this world is free, the ancestor went too far.

These incredible treasures are ultimately just war funds for when the Demon King revives.

“If fairy tale-like treasures have appeared, you should be prepared to meet a fairy tale-like Demon King, Your Grace.”

Even if I say this, he probably won’t believe it because I opened the treasure chamber too early compared to the original story.

‘Well, if he doesn’t believe it, there’s nothing I can do. Anyway, as the original story progresses, Darius will go to defeat the Demon King with the female lead.’

It’s unreasonable to expect an extra’s words to have the same persuasiveness as the female lead’s.

I secretly thought Darius would laugh or react by saying I was talking nonsense, like Lucian.

Unexpectedly, Darius unsheathed the magic sword I had handed him, looked at it again as if reassessing its value, and said to me,

“I see. The Demon King, you say.”

Ah, as expected, the male lead is cool.

Whenever I saw the male lead believing in me, I felt an unnecessary amount of affection building up.

‘But it should still be fine for now. Even if the male lead and his extra wife maintain this level of affection.’

* * *

I continued fiddling with the women’s mirror I had discovered and let out a small exclamation. I seemed to understand how to use it.

Yes, it would indeed be unfair to only prepare items for men.

‘Come to think of it, I should have let the maids touch the gold coins too.’

I felt regret belatedly. If I had conducted a gold coin personality test, I could have immediately known who was greedy.

“Apple?”

Returning to my room, I called for my maid who had the virtue of being honest. Apple, with her light freckles and low nose, the very image of a maid in a romance fantasy novel.

“*sniff* Did you call for me, my lady?”

Apple’s eyes were red as she came running.

“Did something happen?”

“*sob* No. It’s nothing.”

Apple rubbed her eyes, but that only strengthened the suspicion that she had been crying. I took her hands as she tried to hide her face and asked again.

“Have you been crying?”

“No, something just got in my eye.”

“Your best quality isn’t anything else but your honesty.”

Apple was a new maid who had just started when I arrived at Inkhart Castle, and she wasn’t particularly meticulous in her work.

The reason I kept Apple as my closest maid was that I liked how she told me everything about the castle without hiding anything. Whether it was good or bad.

“Are you really not going to tell me?”

“My lady… Actually, Lady Egritte told us never to tell you or His Grace about this.”

“Lady Egritte?”

The housekeeper of Inkhart Castle. Apple seemed cautious about the orders of the person who had ruled Inkhart Castle before I came.

I maintained a stern expression. Finally, Apple looked at me nervously and shared her concern.

“Well… People keep disappearing. *sob*”

“What?”

“I came to this castle because some maid who was working here disappeared without a word. They needed more hands urgently because you were coming, my lady. Normally… someone like me without proper references wouldn’t be hired as a maid, but the situation was so desperate.”

I had heard a similar story before when I met Gilbert, the dwarf blacksmith, about the daughter of the Blacksmith Guild Master disappearing.

So it wasn’t just the disappearance of one blacksmith’s daughter?

“Why are you telling me this only now? Goodness, if people were disappearing, you should have reported it!”

“I tried to tell His Grace. But Lady Egritte stopped me. She said His Grace and Lady Anette had just returned to the castle, and there was no need for you to know about such unpleasant matters. She said she would investigate herself. But, but people kept disappearing… I was scared and sad, crying alone.”

Apple cried like a child after finishing her words. She was just a commoner maiden for whom Inkhart Castle was her first workplace.

“Lady Egritte prevented you from informing His Grace?”

Apple sniffled and nodded.

“Yes. She said it wasn’t uncommon for maids of improper conduct to disappear.”

Apple added, sounding resentful.

“Lady Egritte didn’t think it was a big deal. When she said that, we couldn’t keep bothering the castle’s head housekeeper… But people kept disappearing. *sob*”

It was another story I had heard before. That it was common for young people to secretly leave for the city because the North was so harsh.

“I’ll meet with Lady Egritte. I need to ask why she hid this from me and His Grace.”

“But Lady Egritte…”

Lady Egritte and I originally had an appointment scheduled.

However, because I had rushed to the ash forest in a frenzy, and then nursed Rose the next day, Lady Egritte had been stood up for two consecutive days.

“She seemed upset about waiting for you all day that day, my lady.”

“I am her superior. If I call, Lady Egritte comes, and if I change my mind and say I won’t go, that’s that. She can’t be upset about such things.”

I said firmly.

* * *

At that moment, Lady Egritte was looking into a mirror in her room.

‘The skin around my eyes is getting dry again.’

No one knew her real age. The dignified lady in the mirror merely appeared to be in her thirties or forties.

After marrying a relative of the Inkhart family, the people of the North only vaguely knew that Lady Egritte had come from somewhere far away.

‘Who would see me as my real age?’

Even she herself was now forgetting her true age. How much money and cosmetics she had invested to maintain this youth.

‘Maintaining beauty is such a demanding task.’

But at the same time, it was addictively worthwhile. When she looked at her face in the mirror, she felt like she could do anything, even more than this, in the future. That’s how satisfying it was.

“Lady Egritte, Lady Anette wishes to see you.”

“How vexing. I suppose making me wait that day wasn’t enough?”

Irritation tinged Lady Egritte’s voice at the maid’s words.

“Lady Anette said we should understand each other’s unavoidable circumstances.”

“She’s so full of herself! One would think she was born the mistress of this castle!”

Bang! Lady Egritte put down the mirror roughly and took a deep breath. This behavior was unlike the Lady Egritte who was always gentle and kind, even to her subordinates.

“Very well. If the lady calls, what can I do? I must meet her as she wishes. But tell her to come here herself. Surely she can manage that much?”